Whitewater Region Township, Haley Station, Ontario… Cheryl Gallant, MP Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke, today warned that threats by the Opposition coalition in Ottawa to cancel the F-35 aircraft would cost local jobs.
“Threats by the Opposition Coalition in Ottawa will cost Canadian jobs, many right here in Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke,” remarked Cheryl Gallant, MP. “Workers at Haley Industries are currently benefiting from the decision of our Conservative Government to provide the best equipment to our men and women in uniform. Now that Canada has committed to replacing the 28 year old CF-18 Hornet, Canadian industrial opportunities could exceed $12 billion for the production of the new aircraft. In accordance with the industrial participation agreements our Conservative government has signed, all 19 Canadian companies manufacturing items for the F-35 will also repair and overhaul those components for the entire global fleet. Those job opportunities will be lost if the opposition coalition get their way.”
Today, crucial aerospace jobs are in jeopardy. F-35 Joint Strike Fighter international contractors are reluctant to consider Canadian bids as long as uncertainty lingers around our nation’s participation in this project. Companies in Renfrew and in Arnprior like Arnprior Aerospace who are part of the aerospace supply chain want to see this contract go forward as it benefits the entire industry. Jobs are going to other countries every day the Opposition coalition creates uncertainty by threatening to cancel the deal.
Given the way the jet deal has been structured – with many other countries involved, including with some of our closest western allies, there is no truth that putting the deal to re-negotiation would benefit Canadians.
“While the current head of the Opposition coalition was not living in Canada when the contract for the Sea King helicopter replacement was ripped up, soldiers all know what a disaster that decision was,” observed Gallant MP. “Here we are 17 years later and the Sea King replacement that was finally partially ordered by the old government still has not been delivered to our Air Force pilots. Pleading ignorance because he was absent from our country makes his attack even more self-serving. Toronto Liberal leader Ignatief does not even care that many of the aerospace industry jobs that would be lost would be in his adopted Toronto base.”
A report prepared for the Aerospace Industries Association of Canada by Deloitte and Touche pointed out that their companies employ over 80,000 Canadians in high-tech, high paying jobs in a $24 billion-a-year industry.
“The Opposition coalition is putting narrow partisan interests ahead of the interests of Canadian aerospace workers and their families and the needs of our Canadian Forces,” said Cheryl Gallant MP. “When the economic recovery is still fragile, the last thing the aerospace workers and their families at Haley Industries need is the opposition coalition threatening their jobs.”
‘Only a Conservative Member of Parliament in this Riding will protect the jobs that come with military procurement at Haley Industries and my successful efforts to bring the new fleet of Chinook helicopters to Petawawa and the jobs that come with them. It’s time for the ‘just visiting’ Opposition leader to return to his American classroom,” concluded Cheryl Gallant, MP.